Panama Canal contract rift enters eleventh hour

Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), the consortium hired to build a third set of wider locks for big ships at the Panama Canal, on Monday qualified its ultimatum to suspend work Jan. 20 if its demands to be reimbursed for $1.6 billion in cost overruns are not met, saying its deadline is not automatic. The contractor claims the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) refuses to compensate it for cost overruns due to unforeseen weather conditions and other circumstances, as well as the ACP's decision more than a year ago to reject the initial concrete mix for the locks because it allegedly didn't meet requirements for durability. GUPC says the concrete mix was based on faulty geological data provided by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). "...